Family owned and operated since it’s opening in 1963.
The Tuckahoe Inn is a casual family restaurant on the bay. Bring your family and friends and come join the good times!

History of our name and it’s origin.
Tuckahoe, meaning “where deer are shy or hard to approach” is the Native American tribe, part of the Turtle Clan of the Delaware Tribe of the Lenni-Lenape Indian Nation. The Tuckahoes inhabited this area of Southern Jersey, hunting in the forests and meadows, fishing in the surrounding waters, gathering great quantities of shellfish, whose meat they dried and whose shells became wampum.

We met with Chief Keeper Wolf of the Turtle Clan who shared the history with us. One evening in 1692, shortly after the death of the last great chief King Nummy due to smallpox, the Tuckahoe Tribe held council. Over 70% of the Tuckahoe people were killed by smallpox. The remaining Tuckahoes were scared off by the white men and the evil spirits they were bringing to kill the rest of the Tuckahoe people. Deciding the area was becoming too crowded, the majority of the Tuckahoe families packed up and left that same night, never to return. They moved along the Great Egg Harbor river to towns like Egg Harbor City, Mays Landing, and the surrounding areas. The tribe remained in this area long after and still remain in the area today. They left their name scattered across the areas we reside and frequent in today. One example being the Tuckahoe River, a part of the Great Egg Harbor Bay System. Chief Keeper Wolf bestowed the name of the Tuckahoe Inn as “Feasting Meadow”, a place to flock to socialize and dine.

In 1685 Cape May County was founded, and with it the county assumed the responsibility of operating a ferry between Beesley’s Point (then called Stites Point) and Somers Point. We may reasonably assume from this that some sort of way station was established here at that time – the first authenticated data concerning an Inn was 1736 – and from that time forward there has always been a hostelry at this site.

In 1961 the Beesley’s Hotel was destroyed in a fire, the only remaining portion being the iron fireplace located on our enclosed porch today. In 1963 Charles Harp rebuilt and restored the Tuckahoe Inn. Charles’s son Peter continued to operate the Tuckahoe Inn until 1996 when the Merryman family purchased the Inn. The Merryman family continues to operate the Inn to this day.